Libya: Barack Obama says operation is example of 'how world should work'

The Libya operation is an example of how the world "should work" with the
United States at the centre of a broad international coalition, according to
Barack Obama.

President Barack Obama speaks about U.S. military action in Libya Photo: GETTY IMAGES

7:30AM BST 30 Mar 2011

The US president expanded upon his explanation of his decision to launch an air assault on Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces to protect civilians and set up a no-fly zone as he dedicated a new US mission to the United Nations in New York.

"That's how the international community should work - more nations (with) the United States right there at the centre of it, but not alone, everybody stepping up, bearing their responsibilities," Mr Obama said.

"That's what it means to be (the) United Nations," Mr Obama said, opening the new facility named after Ron Brown, former president Bill Clinton's commerce secretary, who died in a plane crash in Croatia in 1996.

"We believe that the world is more secure and the interests of the United States are best advanced when we act collectively," said Mr Obama.

The current air operation over Libya has seen the United States play the dominant role, but Washington says it will increasingly play a support role to its partners including France, Britain, Italy, and Arab states including Qatar.

NATO earlier delayed its assumption of command and control responsibilities for the operation by one day to Thursday, to allow a smoother handover from the United States.

"Today in Libya, we are showing what's possible when we find our courage; when we fulfill our responsibilities and when we come together, as an international community, to defend our common interests and our common values," Obama said.

"We're saving innocent lives."

The US meanwhile said the USS Barry, a guided missile destroyer in the Mediterranean, fired 22 Tomahawk missiles at weapon storage sitres around Tripoli on Tuesday. It was the highest number of Tomahawks fired in several days, even as the Navy has reduced the number of missile-firing ships and submarines off the Libyan coast.